The idea that what is taught in history lessons should be relevant to pupils’ lives is a longstanding one. It has been used to advocate teaching the history of the twentieth century, social history, and more of what is rather clumsily called ‘women’s history,’ or Black history, or LGBT+ history. One of the great criticisms of the sort of history which is disparaged as ‘kings & battles’ is that it lacks this quality of ‘relevance’: most history teachers have seen much of what we do dismissed as exclusionary stories about ‘dead white males.’

I do agree that part of our responsibility as history teachers is to do our bit in explaining to the next generation how our country, and our world, got to be the way it is. Is that what’s meant by ‘relevance’? If so, then yes, I’m all for it. There are, I think, lots of things which our children…